What does Bowdoin not teach? Intellectual modest. Self-restraint. Hard Work. Virtue. Self-Criticism. Moderation. A Broad framework of intellectual history. Survey Courses. English composition. A course on Edmund Spenser. A course primarily on the American Founders. A course on the American Revolution. The history of Western civilization from classical times to the present. A course on the Christian philosophical tradition. Public speaking. Tolerance towards dissenting views. The predicates of critical thinking. A coherent body of knowledge. How to distinguish importance from triviality. Wisdom. Culture.

When: Wednesday, March 6

Time: 4:00 p.m.

Where: Maine Lounge (Moulton Union)

come together to support our community.

I implore each of you to attend the meeting, today at 4 in Maine Lounge (Moulton Union).

This isn’t about something that happened at Oberlin, this is about what our values are as a community, and about what kind of Bowdoin we’d like to have. Conversations such as the one we’re going to have have today will help to establish a dialogue around the problems of racial, religious and ethnic hate and ensure that it does not manifest itself at Bowdoin.

Curia has been silent for quite some time now. In this time there has been a rise of other blogs—Her Campus, In the ‘Cac, Off the Record and countless others. They have all done things to fulfill our desire to have an honest conversation, an honest dialogue, to share our observations of life in—or out of the bubble.

In curia’s absence I know that I’ve missed the space that curia provided. My desire for stimulating dialogue has been fulfilled by my friends over long dinner conversations, or random 2 am rants. This isn’t enough. Share with me what bothers you about Bowdoin, about our apathy. Share with me what you love about Bowdoin. You have a voice and I want to hear it, let Bowdoin be your sounding board, and curia your soapbox.

Curia is up and running once again. We invite you to share whatever it is that you’d like to post.

In looking for a theme this month we played around with several options. October is a busy month; sports teams are gearing up, homecoming, parent’s weekend, Halloween, fall break, and midterms are all sneaking up on us. We’ve decided to settle on spirituality as our theme (saving us from the holiday season cliché). For many, faith and spirituality is highly personal and at Bowdoin it may have been challenged and undergone some changes. We urge you all to share with us your views and experiences. Feel free to talk about spirituality as it applies to your religion or your environmental ethic. It’s all good.

Welcome to Bowdoin. You’ve had the good fortune to stumble onto BCuria, and we’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you into the ever freezing and blizzard ridden bosom of Maine. Over the course of the next few weeks, the editors will be putting together articles on a variety of topics we wished people had talked to us about coming in as Freshman, from as many perspectives and people as we can bully into writing for us. But first, we have this to say.

College is a whole new world for you. You’re away from your parents or your prefects for the first time ever. Yes, you have the caring and capable arms of your proctors to run to as these first few weeks send you reeling. They’ll be a safety net for you all year round. But for the most part- 99% of the time -you’ll be on your own. Ruining your own laundry, missing your own appointments, keeping your health somewhere just out of reach and deciding whether or not it’s really a good idea to stay up talking to a friend until 4am on a Tuesday (in our opinion it usually is). You are the only one making your decisions.

Now it seems the most liberating part of this whole thing will be the freedom you have in your social life. You can be friends with the pothead your parents would never have been decent to, drink vodka from a waterbottle (though this turned out badly last time we witnessed it), and make out with whomever you choose as long as you work out a system to let your roommates know that they really shouldn’t come in right now. Mom will not walk in on you to deposit your briefs anymore.

But since you’ve been accepted to Bowdoin, chances are you’re a pretty intelligent bunch. We’d like to take this chance to remind you of it.

For the entirety of your academic career you’ve been told what you should be paying attention to. You have to learn about the Civil War because it’s important, you need to know calculus because it matters, you’ll never get on if you don’t understand stoichiometry. Well. Sooner than later you’ll discover that you simply can’t get on without taking an art class, or an anthropology course, or na Africana studies lecture. This has the potential to be the scariest shit you’ve ever experienced.

You’re here, right? So chances are you’re a driven bunch. You want to be doctors and lawyers and engineers and here you are and one of these tenure track professors in an obscure department is completely blowing your mind and you’re not sure you will ever look at the world in quite the same way. Here’s our two bits.

The moment when you are scared, when an idea completely overwhelms you, when you actually WANT to do your homework for the first time since your homework was drawing your pet… That’s what you should be paying attention to. These are the classes which will wake passions that make you better than a decent doctor, or a competent lawyer. These are the moments which will move you to dance across the world to your own tune, in your own unique beat. They will make you great. So take this chance, love this place. Make the friends you once could only imagine and get ready to wake up one day and realize that the world of dreams suddenly isn’t any better than the world of reality.

In keeping with tradition (the few that Bowdoin has to offer) we would like to greet you with the (hopefully not so standard) Why Bowdoin Needs Curia Article.

To the bright-faced new comers, Curia is a place where you are invited to share your thoughts and opinions. Your contributions may be funny and witty, or more decisively serious and needed. Curia is a space for you to be heard and to listen.

To our returners, welcome back! Last year we witnessed a great flurry of activity, from serious articles to more light ones, the site saw a lot of traffic, and for you that means voices and opinions.

Yes, we’re off to a slow start this year, we’ve been busy planning what we hope will be a great year. Remember that we’re all diverse, our differences- in upbringing, experiences, and ideas can serve to unite is in a dream for a better Bowdoin, so share your dreams- and your frustrations.

Bowdoin students have a love/hate relationship with the Bowdoin Bubble, we embrace the community that we have built around us, yet shy away from that foreign to us. In the next few weeks, once the “new car smell” wears off, we’ll shy away from even each other. Read: as much as we here at Bowdoin value an open mind we are quick to judge the new experiences at our own door front. And that is where, we hope, curia comes in.

Curia is only accessible to on-campus computers, to those inside the Bowdoin Bubble. Why? Because through this thin veil we hope that you are empowered to share your views, free from fear of what strangers down the line may google. Google my name and you’ll find facebook and twitter posts as well digest posts and forums I contributed to in seventh grade, I’m sure you all have similar stories, yet with Curia you’re postings stay local, so share what you really think.

Post anonymously, if you’d like. Even the most outspoken students at Bowdoin are sometimes more comfortable submitting their views anonymously. You have no responsibility to defend your statements or validate them in any way, as long as you “promise you really thought about what you just wrote.”

I urge you all to share something with us. Curia is here for you and will be what you make it.

For those of us swelling the ranks here at Camp Bobo for the summer, feel free to send anything you are interested in. E-mail jescuder@bowdoin.edu with any submissions or topics you would like to see covered by Curia.

There are many guidebooks out in the public sphere for fitting in at College. None of them, however, address your needs as a Bowdoin student. I have, then, created a handy guide to fitting in at Bowdoin College. Do you want to fit in as an athlete? Acapella playboy? Brolina? Hipster? Granola eater? Look no further!

Outing Club Junkie
This curious fellow can be spotted wearing Carhartt overalls and flannel, despite never having worked a day in the manual labor industry. Remember your Chacos, as only Chaco soles can hold up against the tides of urban to rural transitions (those of you who are feeling counter-culture, buy Vibram FiveFingers and talk about the health benefits of barefoot running).

Your first step is to become acquainted with Wagon Wheel. A classic song about sex in wooded areas. Sort of. It’s your call. Following this, it is important to develop a healthy love of Bill Bryson and stories about dying in the woods (loving it all the while). See Into the Wild or A Walk in the Woods. These should get you started.

Your next step is to shop at thrift stores, although preferring expensive, organic meals and groceries. Talk about your battle with becoming a vegetarian/vegan, despite your love of red meat (this shows your worldliness and relate-ability). Admonish smokers at every opportunity, informing them that they are “killing themselves,” as they were not aware of smoking’s hazards until that point.

In addition, it is important to find an organic farm job that pays little to nothing during the summers and discuss your love of agrarian life. This will show your down-to-earth desires, juxtaposing the $210,000+ cost of your education. Ideally, your abroad experience will involve somewhere where hiking is prevalent. Look to Nepal, Argentina, Bolivia, New Zealand, and Costa Rica, as these all offer similar benefits.

Your junior/senior years, it is important to move off-campus, in order to further your alternative lifestyle and love of bulk groceries/never turning the heat on.

When you settle in from outdoor trips and campfires, it is important to date someone with similar tastes and, ideally, equally as much body hair. Look to Environmental Studies and Biology classes for your mate.